As other staples soar, potatoes break new ground-..International Year of the Potato,

Reuters ^ | Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:13pm EDT | Terry Wade

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Highlighting this:

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the United Nations named 2008 the International Year of the Potato, calling the vegetable a "hidden treasure".

[utherdoul]

I loved potato bread when I was younger, this actually might not be a bad idea. Whole countries have lived off potatoes.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

As wheat and rice prices surge, the humble potato -- long derided as a boring tuber prone to making you fat -- is being rediscovered as a nutritious crop that could cheaply feed an increasingly hungry world.

Until the enviro-idiots decree that potatoes are best used to make some biofuel. The negative impact on the world of environmental know-nothings babbling about "sustainable energy sources" can't be overstated.

[lilylangtree]

My mother used to call me her “potato baby” because I loved potatoes raw or cooked. Even now, I’m in 7th heaven with just a baked potato smothered in “Promise” type of margarine with 0 trans fat and a lovely garden salad. Makes me hungry when I think about. Another cheap veggie is celery.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I munch baby carrots....

[GOP_Raider]

(Though most Americans associate potatoes with the bland Idaho variety, they actually come in some 5,000 types.) Oh, no he di'int! The FR Idaho Ping List FReepmail GOP_Raider to be on or off this list (Thanks to Ernest_at_the_Beach for getting us all fired up...)

[tubebender]

Did Germany attempt to make fuel out of potatoes during WWII? I will be planting 36 hills of Red Gold Potatoes tomorrow (Tuesday). It's a new variety from Johhny’s selected seeds...

[AlaskaErik]

Potatoes are one of the yuck foods. If I never saw another one for the rest of my life it would be too soon. Feed me rice any day of the year.

[radiohead]

At the risk of becoming a FR laughingstock, let me state here that I have been low fat vegan for the past 2 months. I am eating this way to aid my diabetes as research has shown a low fat plant-based diet to be good for diabetes as well as heart disease (which is what most diabetics die from).

I feel good and am eating better (w/lower blood sugar) than when I did Atkins. Strangely, on Atkins I felt deprived all the time. I lost weight but was miserable. I feel there is a lot more variety eating this way; at least for a diabetic used to measuring or avoiding foods all together.

Now I eat potatoes, completely verboten to me for almost 10 years. I cook up a bunch of red or Yukon Gold (the russets have a higher impact on blood sugar and aren’t recommended) potatoes. I eat ‘em for breakfast. I eat ‘em for a snack. I add ‘em to lentil soup. My average blood sugar reading has dropped 50 points. I’ve lost weight. I am HAPPY. Potatoes make me happy!

There, I’ve said it and I don’t care who knows.

[djf]

I put a bunch more in about two weeks ago.

About 3 pounds worth of the purples, about 6 pounds worth og the russets, and an odd variety (can’t remember the name). They were quite large and mostly round, a grayish color, but the skin underneath was green. The flesh was white.

I also have a plot of reds that just comes up years after year.

IIRC, potatoes are the highest yielding crop there is. Something like 3,000 different species.

I love taters!

[djf]

Wild potatoes

[dr_lew]

Strangely, on Atkins I felt deprived all the time.

Strangely !? It's a deprivation diet!

[radiohead]

Those look beautiful!

[tubebender]

I didn't plant Tators last year and lost my seed stock. I can get Yukon Gold here to plant but I grew Deseree which is a VERY early producer. I may try to order some...

[radiohead]

Actually, Atkins, after induction, gives you a lot of veggies. Most people never read the books and only go from TV sound bites as to what the diet really entails.

The problem for me was that I wanted a freakin’ cracker sometimes, I wanted a sandwich, I wanted a grape. In general, I was ok w/the diet, but you never realize how much carb there is in the world until you cruise the supermarket while on Atkins. It just made me sad for me.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Now that is interesting.,...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Don't know about fuel,...but I think there is liquor made out of potatoes....

[Irishguy]

good luck to you...sounds like it works as well.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Suntory Yawaraka Imo Shochu - Potato Liquor